World Cup stadium in the Amazon rainforest 'won't be a white elephant'

Local football fans insist the Arena da Amazonia will bring benefits to the
remote region where it is being built, despite Brazilian football legend
turned politician Romario describing it as "absurd"

Donna Bowater, filmed by Gustavo Oliveira

7:00AM GMT 06 Dec 2013

In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, an army of constructions workers are toiling to ensure the £170 million Arena da Amazonia will be ready in time for the 2014 World Cup, despite a series of serious delays and setbacks caused by the onset of tropical winter rains. The stadium was due to be completed by December 20, but that deadline may well be passed.

While the project has been described as "absurd" by the Brazilianpolitician Romario, once one of the country's most illustrious football players, fans of the local team Nacional say the project will benefits the people of the remote region and its capital city Manaus.

"It’s an opportunity for us to start to rethink our coexistence in the Amazon with the world and try to improve. We’re going to have contact with other cultures, other people. I see it as an opportunity for the city to grow" said one.

Another rejected the idea it would become a white elephant, describing as "pessimists" those who oppose it.

The man in charge of the construction of the stadium is Miguel Capobiango Neto. He says the stadium will be at the centre of a "whole sporting and cultural complex" to guarantee its economic sustainability.